“Democracy is the worse form of government…except for all the others.” — Winston Churchill

In this episode, Ron and Ed will examine public choice theory, which describes the extension of analysis to the political alternatives to markets. Many commentators talk about “market failure,” but far fewer ever even mention “government failure.”

Public choice theory sheds light on how government employees face incentives as much as employees in the private markets, and how these incentives can create bad policies, costly regulations, and other negative consequences.

In addition, we will also talk about the dynamics of group decision making in private organizations. Some of the same challenges confronted by government officials are also faced by people in private business.

We will explore the question, “What are the best ways for groups to make collective decisions?”